1. Technical Field
The present application relates to optical receivers and more particularly to power consumption in optical receivers.
2. Description of the Related Art
In typical optical receiver applications, input optical power varies from 6-20 dB, with the lower range more prevalent in multimode fiber links and the higher range more prevalent in single mode fibers. To accommodate such a large dynamic range, receivers are designed to supply a sufficient gain to produce a strong digital output for the lowest specified optical input power. In addition, the maintenance of output signal linearity is also an important concern. Thus, to preserve output signal linearity, optical receivers utilize a variable gain amplifier or automatic gain control, which is independent of the input signal strength.